Making Change

Change is as inevitable in business as it is in, well, life
itself. Because of this, it only makes sense that books addressing
the topic--such as David A. Nadler's Champions of Change: How
CEOs and Their Companies Are Mastering The Skills of Radical Change
(Jossey-Bass Publishers, $26 cloth)--are currently lining
bookshelves. In the fast-paced 1990s, it's almost a given.

What isn't a given, of course, is that any of these books
will be any good. This one is--maybe, in part, because the author
understands that the difficulty of change should never be
underestimated. "Change is inherently messy," Nadler
writes. "Despite the best-laid
plans . . . things rarely turn out exactly
right the first time around."

Although Nadler's own experience is rooted in consulting to
the likes of Xerox and AT&T, many of his ideas ring true for
entrepreneurs and their employees. "The sad fact is that
enormous numbers of companies confronted with the challenge of
change have botched it," Nadler cautions. Don't let yours
be one of them.